In case you were feeling too good about your woodsmanship...

[jackatc1]

They are Amish,not allowed to use hydraulics.The farm tractor was hired to skid logs
to the landing to be graded.
Truck and trailer hired to transport horses.
Check out hunting license on his back guess rifles are ok.


https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/amish-cuts-slab-by-hand.87105/

 

[gerry100]

We hired some Amish to do some work in upstate NY

Their horses and the way they handle them is very impressive

 

[revdocjim]

There is significant variety of practice among Amish as well. Some buggies have electric lights, others don't. Recently I was in central Ohio and got to meet some of the local residents in an Amish town. After visiting the "Amish Store" on the corner which is actually for non-Amish people who want to buy something that proves they visited Amish country I drove around and found a genuine Amish store in a barn on a farm with just one hand-painted sign. There were no lights in the store and some aisles were so dark you could barely see what was on the shelf. To my surprise, they were selling those fake candles that use batteries! I asked the clerk and she confirmed that many Amish people use batteries in various appliances. I also asked about gasoline since I had seen a young father and his son pull into the local gas stand on their horse drawn buggy and fill up a gasoline can. She said they use gasoline powered motors of various sorts on their farms, in order to run mills and other things. And then there was a story I heard from a non-Amish friend who lives in the area and knows an Amish couple who are snow-birds! Every winter they pack up, head to Florida where they rent a condo, change into more appropriate dress, drive a Prius and get tan. Come spring they head back north, put their funky clothes back on and pick up where they left off. True story!

As for the video, more power to that guy, but seriously, what's wrong with a saw?! I suppose if you're stranded on an island with only an ax...

 

[firefighterjake]

I thought they couldn't use chainsaws?

Different Amish communities have different rules ... aka ordnung. Think of the Amish like Baptists or like many Protestant religions ... different Baptist churches may share some core beliefs, but have different ways of doing things when it comes to the music (piano and organ only versus electric guitar and drums), baptism (full dunking versus partial) or communion (communion crackers versus pita bread.)

A lot of what is and not allowed ... motorized tractors vs small engine powered horse drawn equipment vs non powered horse drawn equipment ... electric hand tools vs battery vs hand tools ... steel wheels vs rubber tires ... etc ... boil down to which order the Amish belong to ...

My Amish neighbors for example use chainsaws (they have a shop where I bought my Jonsered in fact), solar/battery power for home lighting and lighting up their carriages and use small engines on their hay bailer, lawn mower, grain feed grinders ... but they do not own or drive cars, use electricity in their homes, etc.